Qatar plans law to regulate real estate valuation

The Minister of Justice  H E Hussain bin Abdullah Al Ghanem

DOHA: Qatar hopes to soon have a law to regulate the process of real estate valuation that would likely help the state prevent people from under-quoting the market value of a property and paying less registration fee while selling or buying land or building.

The Minister of Justice said yesterday that since Qatar didn’t have a legislation that regulates property evaluation process and profession, the state had been losing revenue, since in many cases people provided incorrect valuation of a property to pay less registration fee. “The state has been losing money. Such a practice is making the state lose revenue,” H E Hussain bin Abdullah Al Ghanem said.

He added that his ministry had set up a committee late last year to prepare a draft law to regulate the real estate valuation process.

“Such legislation is very important, particularly considering that mega development projects are being launched in the country and real estate transactions are on the rise.”

The minister said the importance of such a law was not known in the country until a few years ago when a slew of mega infrastructure projects were launched. “We later realised how crucial such a law was.”

Al Ghanem was addressing a symposium held on ‘Real Estate Valuation’ by the Legal Studies Department of his ministry here yesterday. The aim of the symposium was to familiarise citizens about the importance of real estate valuation.

About the committee that has been formed to frame the draft law, Al Ghanem said several state agencies had coordinated in its establishment and celebrated experts were on it. “We have asked the panel members to draw heavily from the experiences of fellow Arab countries as well as of other nations in framing the draft. We want a very effective law.”

Such a law would also be highly beneficial to banks and the private sector that need to know the exact market value of a property, whether land or building. There, currently, are a number of real estate valuation agencies in the country that provide valuations but, in most cases, they may not be correct, the minister said.

“At the real estate registration department of our ministry, we are facing difficulties in the absence of such a law, as in many cases, property valuations are incorrect and the state loses revenue due to under-quoted market prices.”

The undersecretary at the Ministry of Justice, H E Ibrahim Al Hitmi, who also heads the Legal Studies Centre, in his address to the symposium said he hoped that the committee that was set up last September would come out with a competent draft. The minister earlier said he expected the draft to be ready within two months.

The Peninsula

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